Getting their legs back?

Another upgrade ahead of earnings; this time Amgen

By

SusanLerner

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Could it be that analysts have had their fill of being cautious?

In the face of widespread criticism following huge investor losses resulting from some of their bullish calls, the sell side appeared to be taking extra measures to err on the side of caution in 2001 (See related story) but that may be coming to an end.

On the heels of last week's upgrades of IBM and Nortel just as they were about to release their latest quarterly results, came another such move Wednesday as Merrill Lynch boosted its rating on biotech giant Amgen just hours before it was set to release its fourth-quarter numbers.

In a move he said was based on recent share price weakness, Merrill analyst Eric Hecht upgraded Amgen to "intermediate-term strong buy" from "intermediate-term buy" while reiterating his $76 price objective.

With the upgrade and ahead of the release, Amgen shares rose $2.40, or 4.3 percent, to $58.46. Amgen will report after the closing bell.

Hecht expects the company
AMGN, -0.03%
to post strong sales across all product lines, and most importantly that its Aranesp treatment for anemia is gaining traction in the European market against Johnson & Johnson. He is forecasting Aranesp sales of $55 million for the fourth quarter and $375 million for 2002.

And, Hecht says, the company's pipeline has never looked better noting that he expects the planned merger with Immunex
IMNX
to be a big positive for the company. The stock closed up 4.9 percent to $29.07.

"ENBREL should begin reporting sales in the psoriasis market in early 2002. This makes Amgen/Immunex the first group to enter this lucrative market," he said adding that Immunex's epidermal growth factor Kineret is ready to launch while Amgen has important products in late stages of development for lymphoma, dialysis patients, and complications of chemotherapy. "We believe Amgen is well prepared to launch at least one new product a year for the next five years."

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